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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23402770">On trial</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlueFloyd/pseuds/BlueFloyd'>BlueFloyd</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Political RPF - France 21st c.</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Aftermath, COVID-19, Coronavirus, Drabble, Gen, Government, accountability, public health, responsabilities, trial</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-03-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 06:33:56</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>320</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23402770</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlueFloyd/pseuds/BlueFloyd</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>There will be a time for accountability once the health emergency is over.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>On trial</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>He's crying now. "I assure you, we did everything we could! You have to understand. We only had partial information. Everything was happening so fast... And we had to protect the economy, the consequences would have been disastrous..."<br/>There's an uproar in the room. His appeal to empathy obviously failed.<br/>" 'The consequences would have been disastrous!?' They *have been* disastrous!"<br/>He repeats. "We did everything we could..."<br/>"Fucking liar!"</p><p>"Order! Order!". The judge bangs with the palm of her hand on the wood of her desk. This is France, they don't have gavel here. Her gaze flies above the public. "I will have order, or this room will be evacuated. This is a lawful trial, not a public shaming. I understand the emotions, but this is not the place to process them." She looks at Emmanuel Macron. "As for you mister President, please stick to the facts when answering the questions of the prosecution. What you did, not what you considered you had to prevent." He nods.<br/>"Does the public ministry has further questions?"<br/>The attorney steps forward. "No further questions, Ms. Judge. But I would like to state for the record that Mr. Emmanuel Macron does plainly lie on this subject. There has been numerous retracing of the timelines of the management of the pandemy response by the French government. Every one of them shows that they plainly ignored repeated warning from the WHO, from their own health institutions, from actors from the private sector. The information was there, the anticipation was possible. The choice to protect the economy over the people, yes, that is what happened. With the results we all know. People 'have to understand'? You keep thinking that people are too dumb to understand your brilliant choices. But they understand perfectly, Mr President! That's precisely why you're here today, because everyone understand what you chose to do, and because we want you to answer for it."</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>The French government is pushing this narrative that they did everything right, took decisions on time, and even anticipated the pandemic. The truth is that they very much did not, and that they fucked up their job and responsabilities to an incredible extent. It was very much possible to do better that they did and keep on doing. Public office comes with accountability, and a public investigation and trial will have to happen once the health emergency is over.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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